Fans Post 'Break 6ix9ine Out Of Jail' Facebook Group For Brooklyn-Born Rapper
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - More than 13,000 people have signed up to follow a Facebook group aiming to free Tekashi 6ix9ine from jail in Brooklyn after the rapper was indicted on racketeering and firearms charges.
The "Break 6ix9ine out of jail" Facebook group was founded by someone using the name TR3YWAY and shows Dec. 12 as the date of the "event," though the post mainly is a place for fans to comment their support.
Last month Tekashi 6ix9ine was deemed a likely danger to the community and denied bail after a prosecutor said there was evidence that he directed or participated in multiple acts of violence during the past eight months as part of a deadly gang.
6ix9ine - whose legal name is Daniel Hernandez - was captured on surveillance video as he sat in a car and filmed a scene in Times Square when his co-defendants allegedly carried out a violent robbery against a rival gang member.
Professionally, the Bushwick-born artist's debut album, Day 69, was among the most downloaded records on iTunes. He is also known for the multi-platinum hit "Fefe" with Nicki Minaj, which peaked at No. 3 on the pop charts, and "Stoopid," featuring the incarcerated rapper Bobby Shmurda.
Prosecutors said 6ix9ine was a threat to flee because of his worldwide connections, hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and the knowledge that a conviction would bring a mandatory minimum sentence of 32 years in prison and as much as life.
6ix9ine was among five people charged in an indictment that alleged he participated in the July shooting of a bystander in Brooklyn and the gunpoint robbery of one of his gang's rivals last spring.
The rapper's attorney said his client had fired some of his co-defendants as part of his management and security team last week and was offered protection by federal agents after some of them were overheard on wiretaps threatening his life. After 6ix9ine refused protection, he was arrested.
But 6ix9ine also has had a series of run-ins with law enforcement and has publicly identified himself as a member of a violent New York gang, 9 Trey Bloods, which was mentioned throughout the indictment.
Prosecutors said the gang carried out acts of murder, robbery and narcotics trafficking in Manhattan, the Bronx and Brooklyn since at least 2013.
The indictment said each gang member was required to participate in at least two acts of racketeering conspiracy. Those acts could include murder, robbery, extortion and drug distribution, the court papers said.
The rapper recently pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in Brooklyn Criminal Court in connection with a May traffic stop. The was also arrested in New York for an outstanding warrant in Texas related tn an incident at the Galleria Mall in Houston in January.
In a 2015 case in New York, 6ix9ine was sentenced to probation for his involvement in a sexually explicit video of a 13-year-old girl.
The video, posted on social media, showed the girl performing a sex act on another man while 6ix9ine "stands behind the child making a thrusting motion with his pelvis and smacking her on her buttocks," according to court documents.
